An angel on a mission to save man, one person at a time.

A Gabrielle short story

Gabrielle's Choice
By Marc J Dutton
 
It was getting close to midnight as Gabrielle walked confidently along the strip passing one glittering casino after another, their flashing neon lights and barkers trying to entice customers in.  No fancy lights for Gabrielle though, she worked at the ‘Sparkle Time Casino’ one of the back street joints that catered to the more seedy clients.
 
She did not really notice them though as she was busy looking up at the heavens where she could see forks of lightning dancing in the night sky like ballerinas performing on stage.
 
The dry thunderstorm that was moving towards the city from the desert was ionising the air and she could feel the electricity build up that was making the hairs on her arms stand up.  She looked down at her arms and smiled, this was the first time she had felt that sensation, like a tingly alive type of feeling and she liked it.  It reminded her that she was in this human form for a purpose, that she was, in fact, an angel.
 
Her current assignment was at the ‘Sparkle Time Casino’ owned by one Marco Bartelli, his real name was Martin Smith but he wanted people to think he was a made man so he had changed it. He was 5’6”, 220lbs, had short greasy black hair which was always slicked back. He normally wore a white suit with a white shirt, the suit arms were often pushed up so you could see the hair on his arms and on his chest where the shirt was partially unbuttoned; he looked like a gorilla wearing more rings on his fingers and necklaces around his neck than The Jewelers of Las Vegas on Western Avenue had on display.
 
As she turned off the strip and down East Harmon Avenue she took a moment to allow her eyes to adjust as it was darker there without the neon lights and it felt like a heavy velvet curtain had been pulled over her.
 
The casino itself operated out of an apartment on Salton Street which and had a couple of Blackjack tables, a table for baccarat, and another for craps and a roulette wheel. Gabrielle was a dealer at the Blackjack tables.  The other employees were either too green to get a job with one of the bigger casinos or had been barred from them all due to cheating or skimming.
She was still in training, even though she had already passed with flying colours the basic training that all angels get. Now she was in training to become a Guardian Angel. All Guardian Angels training took place on Earth among the people they would be looking after.  Whilst in GA training you got given one assignment after another, but once training was finished you got assigned to just one human who you stayed with until they are on their way to the Judgement Seat.
 
All she had been told about this assignment was that at some point tonight she would need to make a choice and that the choice she made would change the person involved for the rest of their life.
 
As she approached the apartment she could see Deangelo, he was the bouncer on the door tonight. The door that would not open under any circumstances until he gave the all clear signal.
The other security guards said that he had been in the Navy Seals and looking at him you could believe it too.
 
Deangelo was an African American, he was 6’2”, 150lbs, with a 6" scar on his left forearm which looked like a snake slithering up towards his neck.  His 150lbs was all muscle, unlike a lot of the beefed up security guards that other casinos hired, he had brains in his head.
 
He smiled at her as she approached, he greeted her politely, then gave the word for the door to be opened.  She thanked him as she entered the hallway and made her way to the changing room out back. As she walked through the floor nodding and smiling to other members of staff and regulars she could feel a tension in the air that was not normally there.  As she turned the handle of the door that went out back, she scanned the room to see if anything looked out of place.  Everything looked ok so she twisted the handle and went into the changing room to get her uniform on.
 
After she had finished dressing she went back on to the floor to talk to Nathan. Nathan was the Pit Boss and the younger brother of Marco, he was 5’ 9”, 153lbs, had golden blonde hair and was very handsome, Gabrielle liked him a lot especially when he smiled, his lips lifting and opening to show his perfect white teeth.
 
He put her on Blackjack table 1 so that the current dealer could go for a break.  She liked being on table 1 it was in a good position and had plenty of light making it harder for people to cheat or to accuse the house of cheating, though a few clients still tried to.
 
There were 3 people sitting at the table as she took over.  She took the first card out of the shoe and burnt it, then she started to deal the cards.  A couple of the players drifted off and were replaced by others who gradually lost their cash.  Gabrielle followed the rules to the letter unlike some of the other dealers who would palm cards and shuffle the ‘right way’ for the house.
 
It was around 02:30 when Ed entered the establishment and changed $10,000 into chips.  No-one took any notice of him as he went to try his luck at the roulette wheel first. As he started to win little by little, he tipped the waitresses generously with $10 and $20 chips when they brought him complimentary drinks that probably cost the casino less than $3 each.
 
By the time he left the roulette wheel, he had just over $22,000 in chips.  He ignored the baccarat table as he had no idea how to play the game and went straight to the craps game that was in progress.
 
After a few throws of the dice they decided to change shooter and gave the dice to Ed. Ed was golden, everything he touched ended up a winner. Shot after shot he won, the cheers were getting louder, the crowd was growing larger almost as if they were being pulled to him with a magnet.  Ed was gradually getting drunker on the free drinks that they were suppling him with.  It was one of the casinos greatest money-spinners, free drinks to blur the client's mind so they made mistakes and lost their money.
 
Ed started to lose on the craps table and decided to try his luck at blackjack.  He went to table 2.  Table 2 had a higher bet limit. Ed started betting, he started losing, by 04:30 he had lost all his money and was asking for a loan, the house gave him a $5000 limit, which he quickly lost.  He begged for more so the dealer called for the Pit Boss. Nathan told Ed that he had enough and should be making his way home before his wife missed him.
 
Out of nowhere, Gabrielle got a vision that could only have been sent to her from God of Ed shooting, first at Nathan and then wildly into the crowd of people in the casino, she tried to get the attention of security but they were busy with a customer at the roulette wheel.
 
She had a choice did she leave her table unmanned, hope that security noticed what was going on or make her way towards Ed and Nathan.  She chose the latter and made her way towards them.  Nathan told Ed again that he should just go home, Ed turned and started walking towards the exit, Gabrielle started to relax, then she realised that the vision she had had was of Ed turning at the exit, pulling a gun from under his jacket and shooting Nathan.  As she ran towards Ed she shouted to warn Nathan and attract security, but they were too far away so she tackled Ed before he could get the gun fully out.  Within moments security arrived and removed the gun from Ed.
 
Nathan came running to Gabrielle, hugged her and thanked her for stopping Ed before he could do something foolish that would have haunted him for the rest of his days.
 
Nathan gave Gabrielle the rest of the night off.  As she started walking back home Deangelo joined her and told her that Nathan had asked him to escort her.
 
During their walk back to the Guardian Angel Cathedral on Cathedral Way, Deangelo told Gabrielle what a good job she had done. He also let her know that he was an angel too, in fact, he was her trainer whilst she was in Las Vegas. She laughed as she entered her motel room and Deangelo wished her a good night.
 
 
The End?